Deb and I are always curious what you guys have been up to : ) We all need to get together and climb. This year is booked for us but hope to meet up by next year. Have a great season and I'll chime in via email to make up some rough plans to get some "hang time" on some obscure big wall ; )
Cheers to you both,
Dave
Steve Larson - Nov 4, 2004 11:29 pm - Hasn't voted
Untitled Comment
Some guidebooks mention campsites on the south side of Third Lake without saying exactly where they are. It's a bit of a sandbag. From the stream crossing at the east end of Third Lake, follow a climbers trail up to the top of the moraine. Then proceed about a quarter of a mile, more or less in the direction of the North Buttress, as if you were heading up to Contact Pass. Just when the situation seems completely hopeless, you will emerge from the huge talus into a sandy area. Don't stop too soon. It just gets bigger and flatter. If you camp here, make sure there is either snow to melt or bring ample water, as otherwise you will go thirsty. It is also possible to proceed a few hundred vertical feet higher towards Contact Pass, where another large sandy area suitable for camping can be found. Again, make sure there is snow, or bring your own water.
Thank you very much for the kind words and thank you for putting up one of our shots as sig. photo for the page (I just saw this). Your Temple Crag page put the thought of going for one of the classic lines on the Crag in my head in the first place.
Deb and I are always curious what you guys have been up to : ) We all need to get together and climb. This year is booked for us but hope to meet up by next year. Have a great season and I'll chime in via email to make up some rough plans to get some "hang time" on some obscure big wall ; )
Thanks for the well made page on Temple Crag, Dave. I wanted to say maybe the recommendation of Moon Goddess should drop down a notch (or many notches) since it seems to be particularly loose lately. I had been hearing this from everyone I mentioned it to all summer, so I went up to take a look yesterday by climbing it. Although it was certainly climbable (i'm still in one piece after completing it) I was constantly marveling at how loose and ready-to-go a lot of the rock was. My exact thought at the time was "wow, i wouldn't come back and repeat this, even with a rope or two". Too much danger to the rope, too much danger to the second, too much danger potentially caused by the rope.
What I'm saying is, right now, I would not recommend MGA to any friend of mine, or even an unfriend. I would gladly share beta on it and discuss it thoroughly if someone asked me about it, but I wouldn't begin a general discussion of Temple Crag by using MGA as my first example in a list of classic "five star" routes to climb there. It's also notable that Peter Croft rates it merely "good" while he rates Venusian "awesome". I agree, any loose terrain on Venusian is much more reasonable/manageable than some of what Moon Goddess currently provides.
What do you think? Maybe if enough others agree, MGA could be featured less prominently in the intro paragraph to this page.
There's this one contributing psychological factor too. A lot of climbers look upon Temple Crag for the first time, naturally they say "wow, let's do a route on that!" -- "well, which one?" ... they look in the book and a natural first pick for a great number of climbers would be the one route that is frequently rated 5.8: Moon Goddess in this case. 5.8 just seems to be one of the most attractive grades that a great number of climbers want to climb in alpine settings. Manageable but challenging, etc. The majority (note I'm only talking about a numerical/statistical majority here, not everyone or our best friends or any other measure) don't want to climb Sun Ribbon or Dark Star their first time without a partner who's done it before. They also don't want to feel like they're doing the easiest 5th-class route on the peak. So they gravitate directly to Moon Goddess. And from the ridiculous amount of unstable rock I saw yesterday, I have to say that this is like a numerical gun pointing at their heads. I'm curious how others feel about this.
Dave Daly - Apr 6, 2005 6:59 pm - Hasn't voted
Untitled CommentRadek-
Deb and I are always curious what you guys have been up to : ) We all need to get together and climb. This year is booked for us but hope to meet up by next year. Have a great season and I'll chime in via email to make up some rough plans to get some "hang time" on some obscure big wall ; )
Cheers to you both,
Dave
Steve Larson - Nov 4, 2004 11:29 pm - Hasn't voted
Untitled CommentSome guidebooks mention campsites on the south side of Third Lake without saying exactly where they are. It's a bit of a sandbag. From the stream crossing at the east end of Third Lake, follow a climbers trail up to the top of the moraine. Then proceed about a quarter of a mile, more or less in the direction of the North Buttress, as if you were heading up to Contact Pass. Just when the situation seems completely hopeless, you will emerge from the huge talus into a sandy area. Don't stop too soon. It just gets bigger and flatter. If you camp here, make sure there is either snow to melt or bring ample water, as otherwise you will go thirsty. It is also possible to proceed a few hundred vertical feet higher towards Contact Pass, where another large sandy area suitable for camping can be found. Again, make sure there is snow, or bring your own water.
rpc - Apr 6, 2005 5:32 pm - Voted 10/10
Untitled CommentDave,
Thank you very much for the kind words and thank you for putting up one of our shots as sig. photo for the page (I just saw this). Your Temple Crag page put the thought of going for one of the classic lines on the Crag in my head in the first place.
Cheers and good climbing to you and Deb!
radek
Dave Daly - Apr 6, 2005 6:59 pm - Hasn't voted
Untitled CommentRadek-
Deb and I are always curious what you guys have been up to : ) We all need to get together and climb. This year is booked for us but hope to meet up by next year. Have a great season and I'll chime in via email to make up some rough plans to get some "hang time" on some obscure big wall ; )
Cheers to you both,
Dave
Eric O - Aug 12, 2005 9:56 pm - Hasn't voted
Untitled CommentThanks for the well made page on Temple Crag, Dave. I wanted to say maybe the recommendation of Moon Goddess should drop down a notch (or many notches) since it seems to be particularly loose lately. I had been hearing this from everyone I mentioned it to all summer, so I went up to take a look yesterday by climbing it. Although it was certainly climbable (i'm still in one piece after completing it) I was constantly marveling at how loose and ready-to-go a lot of the rock was. My exact thought at the time was "wow, i wouldn't come back and repeat this, even with a rope or two". Too much danger to the rope, too much danger to the second, too much danger potentially caused by the rope.
What I'm saying is, right now, I would not recommend MGA to any friend of mine, or even an unfriend. I would gladly share beta on it and discuss it thoroughly if someone asked me about it, but I wouldn't begin a general discussion of Temple Crag by using MGA as my first example in a list of classic "five star" routes to climb there. It's also notable that Peter Croft rates it merely "good" while he rates Venusian "awesome". I agree, any loose terrain on Venusian is much more reasonable/manageable than some of what Moon Goddess currently provides.
What do you think? Maybe if enough others agree, MGA could be featured less prominently in the intro paragraph to this page.
There's this one contributing psychological factor too. A lot of climbers look upon Temple Crag for the first time, naturally they say "wow, let's do a route on that!" -- "well, which one?" ... they look in the book and a natural first pick for a great number of climbers would be the one route that is frequently rated 5.8: Moon Goddess in this case. 5.8 just seems to be one of the most attractive grades that a great number of climbers want to climb in alpine settings. Manageable but challenging, etc. The majority (note I'm only talking about a numerical/statistical majority here, not everyone or our best friends or any other measure) don't want to climb Sun Ribbon or Dark Star their first time without a partner who's done it before. They also don't want to feel like they're doing the easiest 5th-class route on the peak. So they gravitate directly to Moon Goddess. And from the ridiculous amount of unstable rock I saw yesterday, I have to say that this is like a numerical gun pointing at their heads. I'm curious how others feel about this.